Monday, 26 April 2010

Newton Abbot

In the absence of any hard facts emerging from Paul & Sue's Grand Tour of the West Country, I'll have to make some up...

This first pic shows a mixed double of ciders being enjoyed in Ye Olde Cider Bar in Newton Abbot. The smaller of the two appears to be Thatchers Cheddar Valley, a garishly orange cider known locally as Diesel! The larger, man-size glass contains local speciality Sam's Dry Cider, from the Winkleigh Cider Co. This is an exceptionally clean, low tannin cider in the Devon style, made by a former worker at the Inch's ciderworks.

I don't think it would be overstating the case to describe the Cider Bar as a national treasure. One of only a handful of genuine 'cider houses' in the UK, where cider (and fruit wines) hold sway and beer doesn't get a look in. The Cider Bar is notable for it's range of ciders (naturally), and basic but atmospheric interior, which if Paul had been more of a tourist and less of a 'local', I might have been able to show on here! Instead here's a video of Cider Bar owner Richard Knibbs, talking about Darling's recent attempt to increase duty on cider by 13%:

Last heard our intrepid cider tourists were overdosing on clotted cream scones and something called 'Real Ale'! It now looks as if they've 'gone native', so here's a couple of pics from the Newton Abbot archive.

Henley & Sons was a sizeable regional ciderworks at Abbotswell near Newton Abbot. They were taken over by Whiteway's Cyder in 1933 and eventually closed. The picture below is from a small exhibit at Newton Abbots other treasure, Tuckers Maltings, where Henley's Cyder was formerly bottled.